Tirunelveli district administration has recommended to the Tamil Nadu government to persuade Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Limited (BBTCL), which is operating Manjolai tea estate, to give a minimum compensation of ₹10 lakh per worker as the company has made a profit of more than ₹684 crore during the previous financial year alone.
In a letter sent to the government, District Collector K.P. Karthikeyan has explained the efforts being taken by the district administration to ensure the well-being of the estate workers, who have been asked by the BBTCL administration to go on voluntary retirement as the company is winding up its operations, much ahead of the end of the lease period in 2028.
“With the ambit of law and existing rules, we are taking every possible step to ensure the workers’ welfare while the environment of this serene region should also be protected,” said the Collector, who has also submitted an affidavit in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court about the subsidised housing scheme, skill development scheme, employment opportunities for the workers, etc., all being made available to the workers after they lost jobs at the estate.
The Collector has pointed out in his letter that more than 1,000 employees had retired from service till March 31 and settled down in the plains even as the plantation workers are saying that they do not know how to work in the plains.
Of the 534 workers in the tea estate, 33 are 59 years old and 39 are 58 years old. A total of 291 workers are in the age group of 50 and 57, while the remaining 171 aged are 49 and below. As many as 418 VRS applications have been received.
The BBTC, which has posted the consolidated profit of ₹684.41 crore during the financial year 2023 – 2024, has agreed to give a compensation of ₹11.32 crore as VRS package.
“Since the BBTC is a profit-making company and many other companies in the past had given better compensation to their workers in the event of permanent closure, the company (BBTC) should be persuaded to give higher ex-gratia of not less than ₹10 lakh per worker and other support measures as demanded by the employees,” Dr. Karthikeyan has recommended to the government.